A viv idea with a couple questions.

[gattsocean]

As I'm still new to everything, take this one with a grain of salt. But if anyone could think of a safe way to pull this off, it could possibly be pretty awesome.

I was thinking about making a battle aftermath setup. I was thinking that using something like Warhammer scenery parts since they are just hardened polystyrene. So basically, you would use something like a bunker or a tower for the hides and climbing areas for the snake. And maybe even use a blast crater for a small soaking area or water bowl; although I know it's most likely way too small, especially for an adult corn.

Here's the main problems I'm running into with this idea though (feel free to point anything else out, as well). The sets all come as small parts that need to be assembled, which means that you'd have to find a safe way to permanently put them together while also being cleanable. Then, there's the problem with the pieces themselves. Again, I'm still new to snakes, so I don't know how exactly what is safe or not. I know that anything pointy like spikes are probably really bad, but I'm not sure what is too rough or not. Lastly, aesthetics, in which I just can't see it looking well with aspen. And I can't find anything that I think might look ok as a substrate that's also safe for a corn.

Anyways, feel free to brainstorm or tell me that it won't work. I'm just curious as if it might be doable.

 

[Jitt]

Not really a pro like people on this forum, but if I may offer my two cents regarding "safety" ...

Rough "cutting" edges are definitely a no, but if grinded down to something smoother, why not. As for the spikes, guess it depends on the size ... and how well they hold together. Snake is like a tank, he won't stop climbing them so they have to hold together very well.

As for being cleanable, acrylic colors + some water-based enamel (atested for being used with drinkable water/kid toys etc) should do the trick, I think it wouldn't be impossible to even put the enamel (lacquer?) directly on the polystyrene, but gotta count with bigger amount needed as it might soak some inside and then venting off ...

As for assembling together, not sure if paper-glue would be enough, but if not, you can try to usesome build-glue ... not sure how it's called in USA, here you can add it to a grout to enhance it's properties. I used it successfully on cardboard before and hell it holds together so well you rather tear the cardboard apart than disturb the connection.

Lastly, regarding the roughness ... I have grout covered shelf in my viv to offer something to rub onto during shed (one of the surfaces) and I made "spikes" on it with a brush while it was still moldable ... sorta looks like that nail-bed now, but not rough enough you would scrape your skin or something while gliding over with bare palm. Snake doesn't seem to have problem with it though

In general, try to make things "unbreakable" but still I think the risk of snake "eating" some pieces is practically nonexistent, as long as you won't feed in a viv while leaving those seemingly possibly torn off parts laying around.

Regarding substrate, as I don't have access to aspen, so far I'm using a pure, organic peat used for flowers. But without additives and chemical stuffs to enhance plant grow, just plain soil. It keeps humidity very well just finding a poo is a challenge, especially with small snake Plus is that it's naturally "acidic" so any molds or other nasties will not start growing, cause they don't like acidic environment to begin with. No baking or sterilizing, it's a popular bedding here in CZ cause of lack of aspen.

I'm sorry for my english if something is hard to understand, it's not my native language, but I'm trying

Hope this helps!!

 

[gattsocean]

Wow, thanks for the quick and detailed reply! And no worries about your English, it's fine.

As to your thoughts, thanks. I was kinda leaning towards most of what you said, so I'm relieved to have a second opinion that's pretty on point with what I was thinking. Also, thanks for the tips on how to make it work with the paint and everything, that at least gives me hope that I can both make it look good, and safe.

For now, I'm still gonna hold out on the idea, as my little one is still small and will probably not have room for most of my idea with it being in a 20L tank.

Also, if anyone else has any other questions or concerns, please reply. Thanks again everyone.

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